Q & A Day

She had been reading about pelvic floor exercises and was a little irritated about different suggestion on when to contract your pelvic floor muscles – while inhaling or while exhaling?

Pelvic floor exercises are often referred to as Kegel exercises.*

Since this might be of interest to many women, I made a short video about it for you.

Now you have learned 2 different ways of doing pelvic floor exercises, the regular training kind & a more tantric, energetic way.

To strengthen your pelvic floor (like you want to do after birth or when suffering from incontinence) you can also keep on breathing conciously while contracting your pelvic floor muscles.

Slowly tighten the muscles around your vagina & anus and hold the tension for 5-10 seconds (slow pull-ups). Then relax for the same length of time before you contract again. Repeat 5 times. Avoid squeezing any other muscles in your body while doing this exercise (e.g. thighs, buttocks). Then do 5 fast pull-ups, contracting & releasing for only a second each. Do this set a couple of times a day depending on the degree of training neccessary in your individual situation.

Your pelvic floor needs your loving attention.

Don´t just contract it vigorously. Bring your awareness here, your attention, your love. It shouldn´t just always be tight but flexible & slinky, able to hold and contract but also able to soften & open when it´s needed, like in sex or birth.

Please note: Do not make a habit of exercising your pelvic floor by stopping your urine stream when sitting on the toilet! Some people still recommend this. But it is wrong & rather harmful. Doing Kegel exercises while emptying your bladder can actually weaken these muscles, as well as lead to incomplete emptying of the bladder. This can increases the risk of a urinary tract infection.

I´m subsequently adding a picture that shows you where the pelvic floor is located. It´s the red bowl shaped structure between the pubic bone and the tailbone. It´s more like a 3 layered trampoline than like a bowl. At the sides it is attached to the seat bones.

Have you tried any kind of pelvic floor exercises? Share your thoughts & experiences in the comments below!

*Pelvic floor exercise, or Kegel exercise, consists of repeatedly contracting and relaxing the muscles that form part of the pelvic floor, now sometimes colloquially referred to as the “Kegel muscles”. Several tools exist to help with these exercises, although various studies debate the relative effectiveness of different tools versus traditional exercises. Exercises are usually done to reduce urinary incontinence, reduce urinary incontinence after childbirth, and reduce premature ejaculatory occurrences in men, as well as to increase the size and intensity of erections.They were first described in 1948 by Arnold Kegel. (www.wikipedia.org)

I gave birth to my son a little over 2 years ago and actually did pelvic floor exercises regularly then. I do believe it helped me get through the 51 hours of labor without having to much trouble after…I was pushing off and on for about 12 hours. I should probably get back to doing them regularly!

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Meet Kiria

Kiria Vandekamp is a Certified Midwife, a Pre- & Postnatal Kundalini Yoga teacher and a passionate Singer. She founded The Art of Sensual Birthing to empower women to create the birth of their dreams by preparing them in all 5 Aspects of Being Human. Click here to find out more about her.